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DIY Mini Children's Book Valentines

I’m about to make you all nostalgic for a moment, but
does anyone else remember receiving boxes full of Valentines in elementary
school?! I remember everything from Scooby Doo, to notoriously cute puppies,
to, as was one of my favorites, the original female power trio—the Powerpuff
Girls! I know people that continued this trend into High School and it was just
such great fun!

Well, as a nod to those boxes of paper cards and candies,
I thought it would be fun to make my own little upgrade on these Valentines
featuring one of my favorite children’s books. The fun part is that you can use
almost any book about love to make this prettiness happen, and just how sweet
is that? You could even use the little poem I wrote for all you lovely people (just keep reading,
just keep reading...) After all, it is a Monday in Wonderland!

Before we begin, I will warn you that this is a more
technology-heavy tutorial, and I personally used Microsoft Word to make it
happen, so that is what my steps will be based around. I don’t have any
experience at all with the Apple equivalent of such a program, but none of this
is too complicated, so hopefully you can make it happen with whatever word
processing program you have!

You will need:

Computer

Photo scanner

Color printer (A duplex option, or double sided, makes
this easier but it is not necessary)

Cardstock

Scissors/Paper cutter

Stapler

Pliers

Washi tape

Step 1

Scan in the desired pages of your book. Crop the images,
and adjust colors as necessary using a photo editor. (I usually go with
PicMonkey!) My scans came up a little washed out, so upping the contrast and
saturation helped me out! I also added “Happy Valentine’s Day” and to/from
labels to a couple of the images using a text style and colors similar to what
was already in the book!

Step 2

Measure the dimensions of your book, and reduce them to
roughly the dimensions of a normal paper Valentine. The original measurements
on my book were 9” x 7 1/2", and I reduced that to 3” x 2 1/2".

Step 3

In Word, create a table that is 3 x 2. (This is for a 12
page book). Highlight all the squares and select the tab for “layout” under
table tools. Here you should be able to type in the desired dimensions of each
box on the table according to your calculations in the previous step. (I just
included the grid lines as a visual aid).

Step 4

Enter a page break below the table, and on the second
page, enter another table with the exact same dimensions. The only difference
is that this one should be aligned right instead of aligned left. This will
allow your book pages to be printed double sided!

Step 5

Determine where each page of the book will be in the 2
tables. To get this order, I cut up some scratch paper, stacked it, and creased
the pages down the center. Then I flipped through this little “book,” numbering
the pages in order from one to twelve. When I separated them again, I could
easily put in the numbers for my order! So if you are making a 12 page book,
you can use the order pictured above.

Step 6

To insert each image into the correct box, click inside a
section of the table, then click insert > pictures, and select the corresponding
book page. Select the picture, then the tab for “format” under “picture tools.”
All the way to the right of this bar, you can type in either the width or
height of the page according to your downsizing earlier. (When you type in one
dimension, the other should automatically follow suit.) Change the “text
wrapping” on the image to be “behind text”, and from there you should be able
to click and drag the image to fill up the square of the table. Any small difference
from the table dimensions, due to something like cropping, will also be hidden
this way.

Step 7

If you don’t like the black dividing lines, feel free to
change their color to white or transparent. Then just print using the duplex
option and “flip page on LONG side.” It is not totally necessary to have a
printer that can go double sided. If you don’t have access to this, you can
make a mark at the top of a scratch piece of paper and print on that sheet to
determine how the paper twists and turns while printing. You will then have to
print the first table, put the paper back in the tray in a way that compensates
for its rotation, and then print the other side.

Step 8

Cut each row of the chart out separately. (Do NOT cut
down the center into columns.) Stack the pages in order, and fold in half. Insert
one staple in the center fold of the book. You may need to staple on top of a
bulletin board with your stapler flat, gently pull the pages off the board, and
bend down the prongs of the staple with pliers. Seal the edge with cute washi
tape to just be safe and sound.

Step 9

Sign your Valentine, and close up with a cute sticker or piece of washi tape if desired!

If you want to make just some simple single-layer fold-over Valentines
instead, use the numbers above for inserting the scanned page images.

You could also draw up your own line designs, and water
color each page of the book before you fold them. In fact, I thought that that
idea was so cute, that I made you a template! I would love to just give you a
template for original book, but since I didn’t write/illustrate the book, that
would be no bueno!

I did kind of write my own version though and it is all
set up and ready to print and color! This is my way of saying “I love you all”
and “Happy Valentine’s Day,” even if it is pretty early and not quite as cute as
the original! Okay, and honestly, I did it for myself, because sometimes I get
really excited about an idea and don’t want to stop cranking out cuteness.